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ENVIRONMENT-AUSTRALIA
Australia river agency pilloried amid mass fish deaths
SYDNEY, Jan 31, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The authority that oversees Australia’s
largest river system was accused of “maladministration”, “gross negligence”
and ignoring climate science Thursday, as its waterways were carpeted with
hundreds of thousands of dead fish.
A Royal Commission report into the Murray-Darling Basin Authority — which
happened to coincide with a series of mass fish kills — was scathing in its
assessment, accusing the body of illegality.
The Murray-Darling Basin is a river network sprawling for one million
square kilometres (400,000 square miles), about twice the size of Spain.
It affects the livelihood of millions of people, but it had been over-
exploited for years and seriously depleted by drought.
A South Australian inquest said the authority acted unlawfully in setting
water levels while it “completely ignored” climate change projections.
“Politics rather than science ultimately drove the setting” of limits on the
amount of water that could be taken out of the river, the report said.
The commission charged that the authority failed to be guided by
“environmental priorities”, as required by law. “It is an unlawful approach.
It is maladministration.”
An investigation by the national broadcaster the ABC in 2017 found
billions of litres slated for environmental flows was being used to irrigate
farmland in New South Wales.
A review of water management compliance in 2017 found inconsistent and
poor enforcement in some states.
The report comes as debate rages over a series of mass fish kills over the
past few weeks in rivers connected to the Murray-Darling.
Up to a million were killed last month — with scientists pointing to low
water and oxygen levels as well as possibly toxic algae — in drought
battered eastern Australia.
The royal commission recommended a complete overhaul of the water river
management plan, with revised levels based on “the best available scientific
knowledge”.
BSS/AFP/FI/1314 hrs